Prelude
by Sand and Mercury
Summary: SatAM universe. An early attempt at trying to capture the flavour and atmosphere of the show in a short series of scenes and situations. Better notes inside.


_Notes: This began life as a script that I was writing for a fangame in late '05 that a friend of mine was making. The game never saw the light of day (not surprisingly), but what came out of it was that I discovered I quite enjoyed writing stuff in the SatAM universe. Thus, I set about warming myself up to the task of beginning an original SatAM series that became **The Learning**. What you have here is the result of me warming up. I just took the script that I'd written earlier and converted it to narrative form._

_There is no real incentive to need to read this. I wouldn't even call it a oneshot or really a fic in its own right at all. It is simply a writing exercise based in the SatAM universe. There is no central theme or message here. My only goals were to work on description, dialog and characterization. I'm mostly uploading it simply because I wanted to add to my folio a bit here, and I won't be continuing it. So please, nobody ask me what happens after Sally's face to face with the Doomsday Pod. I don't know. xD _

_Anyway, enjoy this if you can, but take it for what it is._

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Knothole.

A quaint utopia rested under the a thick canopy of lush green, with huts rooted as they'd always been with a crystalline river that arched and snaked among them. For years, it had provided sanctuary for those that had previously been living under the tyranny of a maniacal dictator named Robotnik. After he had been apparently defeated and disappeared, along with his sadistic ambitions and much of his home city levelled in the aftermath, the ones that had felled him, the Knothole 'Freedom Fighters' had continued to exist here as they prepared to finally retake the city that had been wrenched from them so long ago. The job was far from done, but with the immediate threat eliminated, they could afford to at least kick back a little bit. Today had been such a day, which was now winding to a close.

Princess Sally Acorn of the Freedom Fighters reclined in her office chair, watching her ceiling fan slowly spinning and providing some airflow to the space of her hut, a lock of her auburn hair conveniently draped over her eyes to block out the nearby window's rays of dying evening sunlight that painted the place gold in patchy rays, split up by the sprawling canopy of the Great Forest.

On the four-poster bed nearby, her best friend and fellow Freedom Fighter, Bunnie 'Rabbot' sat, idly swinging her robotic legs back and forth, absently staring at her friend. Today had been unusually hot for such a well-shaded area of Mobius, and Sally had removed her sapphire blue vest and draped it on the back of her chair, the image reminding Bunnie of the older days of the resistance, before Sally had begun wearing it to begin with. The only difference now was that since then, Sally had started to let her hair grow out, and what previously was a pronounced curl at the back of her neck, was now a flowing crimson beginning to drape over her shoulders.

The weight of the silence in the room finally started to get to Bunnie, and she broke the calm silence. "Y'all still worry too much these days, Sally Girl."

The ground squirrel, almost as if awakening from a dream, took a deep breath as she looked to Bunnie. "I'm not really worried... it's just a weird feeling with him not here by now. It's just become so routine of him to drop in around this time, I almost have to think something's wrong."

Bunnie heard it before she saw it; the door to Sally's hut swing open, and the young, orange, two-tailed fox Miles 'Tails' Prower strolled through gingerly, in time for the daily 'what's up' ritual. Sally couldn't help but smile at the routine.

"What's up?" Tails asked, rushing over to his 'Aunt' for a greeting hug.

"Not much..." Sally sighed as she put him down. "Just wondering where Sonic is."

"Was thinking the same thing." Tails responded, turning up his palms.

"Y'know, the last I saw of him was running off for Source-knows-where by his lonesome... ever since Robotnik ain't been around to bother us the poor sugah-hog's been goin' outta his skull with boredom!"

Sally raised an eyebrow, but nodded in agreement. "I guess so… I don't know how he could be so worked up about that. Seems he's more panicked than ever now that Robotnik's in the void… still, we have to stay on guard. No one knows what happened to Snively, and there's still plenty of leftover foot soldiers running around for us to contend with…" Looking out the window, Sally noticed the sunlight that assailed her eyes a few minutes ago had since shifted, and thus swept the hair out of her eyes that she has used to shield them before.

Tails began twirling his namesake around a bit. "Maybe I should go for a quick fly outside and take a look for him?" He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for an answer. Bunnie smirked at that; the boy was inheriting some of Sonic's (sometimes undesirable) traits.

Sally took a quick glance outside and realized the last rays of sunlight had given way to the night. "It's too dark now, Tails. I'm sure he'll be back soon enough." she assured. In a little lower tone of voice, one she hadn't used for a while, she looked down and added, "He'd better be."

Bunnie's ears perked up at this, and leaned them over in Sally's direction a bit. "Any particular reason ya need 'im, Sally girl?"

"Yeah, I need him for, ah…" Sally trailed off, and caught herself mid sentence when she realized she really didn't have any particular reason for wanting Sonic at the moment. Or rather, her subconscious mind told herself, she did have a reason, but she wasn't about to let it slip past her lips. "Look, I just need him here." Sally said, with a bit more force than she wanted, causing her to avert Bunnie's gaze.

Her friend chuckled. "Yeeeahh, that's what I was thinkin'…"

"What's what you were thinking?" Sally said defiantly. "I told you, nothing's been going on between us…"

Bunnie rolled her eyes. "Oh, I dunno… you two sure didn't look like y'all were 'just friends' when ya had yer lips locked up together at the victory bash a few months back, did ya?"

Tails, ever to eager to get his $0.02 in, added, "Yeah. I saw that too. I dunno why you grown ups want to do that all the time. It's gross." He made a face as he finished his sentence.

Sally's face finally began to glow red hot. "Look, that was just… ah, a spur of the moment thing… s-seriously!" she stammered, beginning to shuffle. In her mind, she prayed for the opportunity to change the subject.

She didn't need it. The sound and feel of an immense explosion just outside answered for her.

Bunnie jumped to her feet instantly, eyes darting from window to window. "What the hoo-hah was that!?"

Sally froze in place for a moment, then sneezed as a trail of loose dust descended upon her nose from the rafters. "Antoine's on lookout, he should know… if he isn't asleep. We just need to--"

The door burst open, knocking the nearby Tails off his feet. Antoine rushed in, taking short, panicked breaths.

"Watch it, Ant!" Tails growled, rubbing the back of his head where it'd struck the floor.

"Prinzess!" was all the son of the royal general could get out, shocked as he was.

"What was that sound just now, Antoine?" Sally urged.

"Prinzess! They are coming, out, out of the grounds!" he took a moment to regain his breath. "We are being attack-ed again, I feel!"

Sally's eyes narrowed. "What? What's coming out of the ground?"

"Ze Doomsday Machines! We are doom-ed! C'est l'extrémité de nous!" Antoine stressed, throwing a backhand to his forehead.

"Calm down!" Sally ordered, swiping her arms aside, motioning for silence. "Alright… so they found us. Antoine, Bunnie, Tails, go get Rotor and Chuck and get out of here in the Freedom Stormer ASAP! And tell everyone else you see on the way to run!"

Bunnie eyed Sally suspiciously. "And what are you gonna do?"

"I'll hang around and wait for Sonic." Sally said, features set in stone.

Bunnie and Tails recoiled simultaneously. "Sally!"

"Look, hon…" The Freedom Fighter rabbit threw her arms out. " I know y'all care about 'im and all, but staying here with those buzz saws on the loose is su-i-cide! Ya cain't be serious, sugah!"

Sally folded her arms, and didn't move. "He won't know where we've gone… somebody has to stay behind let him know… might as well be me."

"Aunt Sally! _You _won't know where we've gone!" Tails argued.

"I'm not going to leave Sonic to find his own way, and that's final!" Sally concluded, sternly.

Tails' mind drifted into thoughts of his beloved Sally marching about as a mindless robot, or reduced to a smoldering crater after a date at the business end of one of the drone's laser cannons, and his eyes quickly started filling with tears. "But Aunt Saaalllyy…!!" he begged as he rushed over and clung to her, burying his nose in the soft fur on her chest.

"Shh…" Sally frowned as she picked him up and hushed him. "Nothing's going to happen to me. We'll meet up with you later, okay Tails?"

Tails nodded, and nuzzled up to her for a bit before she let him down.

"I'll take care of myself. Now promise me you'll do the same?" Sally smiled at him, despite the situation. After he nodded, she gave him a gentle push. "Now go get the others. See you later."

Bunnie gave Sally a worried look, but sighed and headed for the door. Antoine was already long gone.

After the room was empty, Sally threw on her vest and stepped outside, seeing plumes of smoke in the distance, lit with the glow of a rapidly growing fire. Soon, the relentless Doomsday Pod would be upon her.

Feeling her stomach turn, the princess steeled herself for what was about to come. "Alright, now… where are you, Sonic?"


End file.
